The Heart Thief Who Played Chopin
by two-bite-brownies
Summary: He wasn’t sure when it started, but it happened more than once. When they were in an argument, he could notice that the blonde wasn’t exactly himselfit was almost as if they were arguing for the sake of arguing for the sake of being rivals.SeiferHayner
1. Chapter 1

The Heart Thief Who Played Chopin

Chapter 1- A Nocturne in the Twilight

The melody kept on haunting him; trapping him inside his arabesque dreams; it awakened him to the world of imagination and wonder, and yet it held him asleep; covered in layers of grey, isolating him from the real world.

His eyes cringed and tensed, forming sharp creases along his smooth, gingerbread skin. Deep inside the crevasses of his mind, his subconscious formed a sweet illusion of an old town with stone houses, and street lamps. Beyond the houses lay a foreboding clock tower that was veiled in the misty glow of the moon, giving it a mysterious aura that was almost…sacred. However, this has been no surprise to him, for each dream he has experienced had scenery that shifted and changed right before his eyes. But the music remained the same, almost as if it was a part of him; never bending, never hindered by transformations of time, space, and everything in between. Hayner stood in the old, misty town and heard the same melody that played in all his previous dreams. It was beckoning him to follow it; to find its source and perhaps gain some sort of merit upon discovering it. Truth be told, the boy has never heard of such a melody before. After hearing the nocturne for the first time, the town in which he grew up and lived in all his life suddenly felt so….two-dimensional; like a portrait without an expression, or words without any meaning. The music seemed to wrap its invisible arms around him like a giant scarf that warmed and soothed his heart. It made him wonder: how could pure sound feel so tangible; so solid, like a face he can reach out and caress? It seemed to speak in a universal language that doesn't need any translation because it simply is. Shaking those poetic contemplations aside, Hayner dashed towards the clock tower in his dream world. Of course, he knew what was going to happen. He would run towards the music, and once he has almost reached the source, the origin of light; the music would stop, and his surroundings will completely vanish, leaving him in a barren, lonely darkness; and at that point, he would wake up, this time in the real world. Even knowing so subconsciously, he desperately ran towards the music, hoping to catch the phantom musician before it flees after a brilliant performance. But before he knew it, the town was fading, as it quickly disintegrated into black shreds of nothingness, and Hayner fell down into the abyss until his eyes suddenly flew open to catch the full gleam of sunlight. ...It was morning in Twilight Town.

'_Three weeks….last night marked three weeks of having the same dream over, and over again…' _The hazel-eyed teen thought in his bed. He was fully awake now, sitting on his bed, and looking out the window towards Twilight Town's very own clock tower. The ginger-skinned boy knew that his dreams must be some sort of message; perhaps a blessing or a curse? Or maybe a greeting or a warning. Of course, most people in the town would never suspect Hayner, of all people, to be such a deep thinker. He never thought of himself as a 'mature' person either…until he started having 'the dreams'. On the first night he had it, he was so mesmerized by the music, that he completely zoned out in class, and later accidentally dropped his ice cream bar after taking the first bite, which, of course, resulted in his gang bursting into a fit of giggles while Seifer relentlessly bombarded him with adolescent taunts such as,

"**Stop thinking about the porn you read last night, Hayner!"** and "**Hey Hayner, I heard you just hit puberty; go easy on Roxas tonight, eh?"**

…which were always said with the same irritating smirk followed by supporting remarks from Seifer's two pet gorillas, as Hayner's gang called them. And of course, he'd fall for the bait every time, erupting into a full-blown argument with the bulkier blonde that eventually ended with both of them spending time in detention.

Three weeks later, things haven't changed a lot.

"Argh! That goddamned Seifer, he always pisses me off!" Hayner shouted in frustration in front of his group of four. Pence and Olette patted him on the back, and consoled him with their usual words, "Seifer's just a bully; he's just scared that us younger kids are gonna whoop his butt in a match one day,". On most days, Hayner would give in to their words of sympathy and carry on with his daily plan. But today, he felt unusually peeved.

"I don't know why he always insists on picking on **me**, of all people. I never did a single thing to him; as far as I could remember, he was the one who acted like he was boss of this town and began bullying the younger kids. I swear…one of these days…" Hayner growled, balling his right hand into a fist.

"Just let it go. Besides, it's not like he's going to get anymore friends. Every time little girls see him, they run away. " Roxas pitched in the middle of Hayner's rant. Olette and Pence gave a nod.

"Plus, the girls in my class hate his cocky attitude…and compared to you, he's got few to none admirers—" Olette cut herself off with an embarrassed blush, realizing that she had said too much. But it was too late; Hayner already heard it, and gasped in utter surprise, along with Roxas and Pence.

"Did you just say…that I've got….an _admirer_?" The dirty-blonde asked, shocked from what he had just heard. It's not like girls have never liked him before. Back in elementary school, when everybody was still young, he asked a fellow classmate to marry him, and the girl agreed. She later asked the teacher about her decision afterschool. Hayner remembered seeing his teacher bursting with laughter and muttering something about kids being cute, before telling the girl not to worry about it. After that day, Hayner never asked a girl out again and instead immersed himself with friends, sports, and well, being rivals with Seifer. Turning back the gears of his memory, Hayner recalled his first encounter with the bully in grade 5. It was after school when his friend got into a fight with Seifer, and Hayner joined the fight to support his friend. He managed to punch Seifer in the nose, leaving the blonde bleeding in that area. However, it didn't take long for him to strike Hayner back with two punches in the stomach. Suffice to say, their rivalry began that very day and stayed with them to the present.

"I'm not gonna talk anymore!" Olette whined stubbornly, feeling guilty for accidentally letting a friend's secret slip out of her mouth.

"Aw come on, Olette…you can tell me, I'll set them up" Roxas joked, and Pence laughed. Hayner slightly blushed at the comment and playfully punched the two in the arm.

"Well, it's getting late now, I need to get home early to study for the math test tomorrow, so I'll see you guys later," Hayner said in a casual tone, slinging his arms back to rest his head on them.

"Alright. Have fun studying, and don't stay up too late!!" Pence said, as Roxas and Olette waved and said "see you tomorrow!" to their departing friend. With that, Hayner gave them a nod and ran off towards his house. He appreciated their attempt at cheering him up; really, he did. But there are some times when one needed to cool off alone…away from one's friends.

After several minutes of jogging, the hazel-eyed boy finally slowed down to a walk. He was treading in an area slightly outside of Market Street, where the residents are more silent, a big change from the busy square of Twilight Town. A fountain sat in the middle of a small intersection surrounded by flowers and shrubs. To him, this was his sanctuary; a small quad that nobody really pays attention to-- a place he can call his own. Hayner sat on the edge of the fountain and let out a sigh of relief.

'Finally, some peace…'

"Didn't expect to find you here, puberty boy,"

'…spoke too soon.'

He heard footsteps approaching from beneath the stairs.

'Oh god, please don't let it be Seifer,'

To his dismay, the familiar black beanie and silver coat emerged from the stairway. Seifer, the class bully, aka. Hayner's eternal rival, arrived, with his usual '_don't touch me if you know what's good for you' _attitude. His muscular arms were crossed, his blonde hair sticking out beneath his beanie, and his piercing blue eyes sizing Hayner up. The dirty blonde simply responded with a roll of his eyes.

"What do you want? It's half past seven, I haven't had dinner yet, and I'm not up for a fight." Hayner spoke in one breath, trying to send Seifer the message that he isn't wanted. The message may have not gotten through, or it may have; but Seifer just decided to ignore it. One way or the other, the blonde didn't budge from his standing position.

"Who said I was picking a fight? Don't get yourself too excited, puberty boy," he countered, with a smirk. Hayner bit down a growl.

"Would you stop calling me that?" he spoke, surprised by how tired his own voice sounded. "I need to get home…test…tomorrow—" he droned, yawning at the end of the sentence.

"Sounds like someone didn't sleep well last night. What's keeping you up?" Seifer provoked, fully knowing Hayner knew what he meant. That comment broke it.

"Goddamit, would you shut up about the stupid puberty boy stuff?!" Hayner shouted all of a sudden, unable to constrain himself any longer.

"Well what else would you be dreamin' of, pub—Hayner?" Seifer stammered, caught off guard by Hayner's sudden outburst.

"It's not something you would understand…or even try to." replied said boy in the camouflage shorts. Seifer snorted.

"Don't get all philosophical on me, smartalecks. Now spill it because I won't stop calling you names until you prove your case." Seifer had to admit—he was a little curious. In all of his previous brawls with Hayner, the other boy would usually insult him back with some smart remark, or even just plain old yell at him. But lately, Seifer had noticed that something has changed within his rival. Eversince three weeks ago, Hayner had been acting like a different person. He kept on staring into space, usually with such a serious expression on his face that Seifer never thought it existed. At other times during class, he would see the dirty blonde closing his eyes, and hum to himself. At first he just thought Hayner didn't wake up on the right side of bed, but now his rival has just confirmed that it was because of his dreams.

Hayner stopped moving for a second…Seifer was acting a little suspicious, was he not? All of a sudden it almost seemed like he was _interested _in his life. An inner voice seemed to snort inside his mind. Seifer? Sympathetic? Maybe when Rai actually grows a brain. …Okay, maybe he'll give it a shot, and see if Seifer would _really_ understand.

"I had a dream….it was about music. And it wasn't the music that we listened to growing up…it was something different…something…beyond this world." he said, watching the older boy's facial expression turn from cynical to confused…..and then to angry.

"Are you trying to fuck with me?!" Seifer shouted, stomping his foot on the concrete floor. "Seriously, that was the lamest story I've ever heard. I didn't have any respect for you in the first place, but this just pushes it to a whole new level," Seifer ranted, blue eyes blaring with white fire. Hayner felt red flaming fire ignite his veins at the other boy's comment. How could he ever have _expected _Seifer to understand? And even so…how cold Seifer think he was lying? Hayner was always a man of honesty and now…now, he felt so misunderstood.

"Fine! If you don't wanna believe the truth then go ahead! I don't give two shits about what you think!" And with that, Hayner stormed off, swearing an oath to himself to never even think of trusting Seifer again. Seifer was left speechless as he watched the other boy exit the quad.

'_What he said can't be the truth….that's not….Hayner…'_


	2. Chapter 2

The Heart Thief Who Played Chopin

Chapter 2- Melody and Cantabile

Hayner huffed in exasperation as he read over the math problem again. His review sheets lay scattered on the table marked with red x's and blank spaces everywhere. By now, the boy was tugging as his hair so hard, he thought his skin might disengage itself from his scalp any second.

'I'M SO SCREWED FOR THE MATH TEST!' his mind literally screamed, as Hayner flew off his chair and jumped onto his bed. He wasn't frustrated at his mathematic skills; in fact, he understood radians, unit circles, and sine laws perfectly well…well, as good as Hayners come. It was the fact that a **certain someone** had to waltz in on his relaxation time with nothing better to do than to make him feel like a complete idiot for having the same dream for three weeks and being honest about it! Whenever he and Seifer had gotten into an argument, Hayner couldn't concentrate. It was as if a massive red cloud would settle on his brain and drain out any legitimate or logical thoughts he had. Usually those moments of anger wouldn't last very long….but today was different. Hayner wasn't sure why he felt that way; not only was his head throbbing, but his chest seemed to collapse in on itself, squeezing the blood out of his heart that seemed to pump twice as hard just to overcome the sensation of suffocation. Amidst these feelings, Hayner knew that it wasn't just anger; but Seifer…Seifer kind of broke his heart.

He wasn't sure when it started, but it happened; more than once. When he was in arguments with Seifer, he could notice that the blonde wasn't exactly himself; it was almost as if they were arguing for the sake of arguing; for the sake of being rivals….but are they really still rivals?

'Of course we are! As long as he continues to live in Twilight town, we're rivals! I won't let him have his way and he won't let me have mine!' screamed the desperate 10-year old Hayner living in his head.

….But he wasn't ten anymore; and neither was Seifer. Maybe Rai and Fuu didn't notice, but Hayner could tell that sometimes…just sometimes, the blonde only cussed back at him to show his unwavering image as the leader of the Disciplinary Committee to his henchmen. The roll of his eyes when he talked, the unnatural way he brushed his hair off his forehead, the forced attitude of annoyance and cynicism in his voice…Hayner could see, and hear it all. Of course, all of those were very subtle notions, but Hayner still saw them. He wasn't sure why, and he didn't care for it much either. It wasn't anything special, right?

Hayner let out another sigh, frustrated at the amount of thought he had put into Seifer when he should have been studying for his dreaded math test. But he found his mind numb from his anger, and he didn't feel like thinking anymore. All he wanted to do was….sleep. After a few moments of blank thoughts, Hayner finally gave in and gratefully closed his eyes, allowing himself to drift far away from the stressful world he lived in, back to his dream world, where he could once again hear the music.

…It took a while for the dream to appear in his mind, but it came, as expected. Hayner took a while to adjust his position in the dream. This time, his surroundings came as a surprise to him; he was in Twilight Town!

'Twilight Town? Why…all of a sudden-----gasp!'

He suddenly noticed the same melody that played in all his other dreams seemed afar. It wasn't like the other dreams where the melody was loud, as if it was right beside him. This time, it seemed to have came in the direction of the clock tower from his town. A feeling of suspense hung in the air. He could tell there was something different about the dream from all the rest. For some reason, he felt that something special was going to happen….something that could change_him._

His heart silently beat in anticipation, as he wasted no time and descended toward the clock tower in the fastest dash he could muster.

'Tonight…tonight, I'll be able to discover--!' his mind said aloud in childish excitement. He didn't care whose voice it was; all he knew was that he could finally find where the source of music was, and then, and then---

The ground beneath his feet suddenly began to shake, as loud, rumbling noises broke the surface like rapid fissures. Hayner stopped in surprise, and turned around in curiosity, and saw something frightening: the ground behind him was crumbling, and the quake was headed for him!

His body went rigid.

Time seemed to freeze for a split second as realization dawned on him: it was now or never.

Sprinting with newly found spirit, Hayner ran desperately towards the door to the clock tower; with every step he took, the melody seemed to ring louder, and louder----

The door opened without a fight, as Hayner discovered he was faced with a familiar set of spiraling stairs.

'How convenient…'

The sound of crumbling stones brought him back to the task at hand. Taking two steps at a time, the dirty blonde charged up what seemed to be his final test. His feet seemed relentless; ascending the flight of stairs that seemed almost endless. The music was resonating in his ears now; his eardrums pumping in and out like lungs gasping for its last breath; he was near the top, like a symphony nreaing its finale—he finally saw it! A single door trimmed in gold lay in front of him; just winthin his grasp—so close, he's so close---!

_CRACK!_

His right foot almost slipped on his last step, which was violently torn off the stairs into black oblivion as soon as he laid another step. It was catching up to him now, and if he didn't jump for the door, he knew he would fall into darkness as well. With one final breth, Hayner summoned all his strength into his legs, and lept off the last step! He took off like a plane, as the last step was ungracefully devoured. Time seemed to have slowed down for this desperate leap for survival; his voice rang out and echoed in this space; his arm stretched out to push the door open. Almost, almost, and—

'There!' Hayner shouted victoriously in his dream, and the door vigorously flew open, like a bird that was released from its cage. Light filled the rims of his sight, and after what seemed like five seconds of chaos, there was…silence.

The ginger-skinned boy waited a few moments before cautiously opening his eyelids, excited; and slightly afraid of what surprises awaited him beyond the door.

The first thing he noticed was the dark blue wallpaper that covered the entire room. It was decorated with silver flower embroideries that seemed to be newly sewn into the wallpaper. The room itself was relatively large; well, larger than his bedroom, anyways. The next thing he noticed was the transparent French-style doors that opened up to a balcony on the wall in front of him, followed by the large bed with a royal blue silk blanket, located in the northeast corner of the room. Just like the wallpaper, the bed also looked brand new, as if everything on it was just made, without single flake of dust on it. The room was lighted by the silvery glow of the moon; a warm, mystical glow that acted almost as a fireplace. For some reason, Hayner felt like this room had somehow always belonged to him, even though this is his first time here. Shifting his gaze to the west side of the room, his attention was suddenly fixed to an unfamiliar object. It was quite big, about a head taller than him. It was well polished, and black-coloured on the outside. Hayner assumed that it was a musical instrument since there were many ivory and black keys that stuck out from the object, along with three pedals on the bottom. The keys seemed to tease him, delivering an unspoken message that dared him to touch them; to play them. Slowly, Hayner succumbed to the lure of the object and stepped towards it. He cautiously ran his right hand across its frame, and assured himself it wasn't dangerous…not that he had expected it to be. A sense of familiarity seemed to grace him upon having contact with the instrument.

'I wonder what it's called?' Hayner wondered in his mind, but before he had time to react, everything faded to white. His time was up; the dream was over. But before he woke up, a voice whispered lightly in his head…

'_Piano……..'_

"Uggn…." Hayner woke up with a groan and held a hand up to his forehead. The clock beside him read 6:30am, but time didn't really matter to the dirty blonde. He felt like he had just came back from running a marathon…or something similar to a marathon. The feelings of anger from last night's argument completely disappeared and was instead replaced by confusion and wonder.

'Did everything in my dream really just happen?' Hayner thought to himself, as pieces of his dream played over and over again in his head. The dream took place, he was quite certain of it. But now, the question is: is there really a piano in Twilight Town's clock tower, and how will he get there?

'It's not like I could just barge in at any time and ask to see that room. Nobody has gone up there for fifty years, and when can I even find time to get in?'

Hayner shook his head and decided to think of solutions after he took a shower and washed up. Yes, that was a good idea.

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Seifer would never call himself over observant. Especially not for miniscule matters like Hayner falling asleep during his math test. Was he going to fail another one? Well, that would certainly give him something to tease the dirty blonde about, Seifer thought with a smirk. Still, he couldn't help but feel a small nagging at the back of his mind to wake the other boy up. Afterall, it couldn't be because of him that Hayner didn't get enough sleep last night, could it?

'Let's just make this quick,' he thought to himself, as he looked around the classroom to see if anybody was watching him. Well, he _**is**_in the middle of a math test. Seeing the coast is clear, Seifer gave the sleeping boy on the table beside his a light kick on the foot. Hayner frowned slightly, but went back to sleeping.

'Oh for Hyne's sake,' Seifer thought to himself, and kicked Hayner again, and again, and—

"Okay, I'm up!" Hayner shouted on the fourth kick, and glared at Seifer, who quickly looked at his math test, hoping not to get caught. Suddenly, Hayner felt tens of eyes glancing toward him, some in shock, some in annoyance, and others in amusement. His teacher's face fumed red, and that's when Hayner suddenly realized that he dozed off **and** shouted during a math test. For a second, he couldn't think, as he felt himself turn stone solid from the inside out. This day, no this**week** couldn't get any worse….

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"Hayner, may I remind you that there are 25 minutes remaining in your math test. It would be strongly advisable for you to finish, or should I say, start your test right now." the teacher curtly reminded him, his voice laced with a tinge of disappointment. The ginger-skinned boy could do nothing but nod in embarrassment as he raced against the clock to finish his test.

"Cheer up, Hayner, I'm sure you didn't fail the math test," Olette said in sympathy as she patted the hazel-eyed boy on his back. "Hey, I know what to do. Let's get some sea salt ice cream, my treat!" Pence offered, but Hayner threw him the best smile he could muster. He tried to look happy…if his efforts didn't look so sad. The usual gang arrived at the Sandlot, only to discover it to be empty.

"Wow, what happened? Seifer's gang isn't here today?" Roxas questioned in curiosity.

"Come to think of it, I don't think I've even seen Seifer dis someone today," Olette added, while Pence pondered in his usual detective-like attitude. Hayner silently pondered too; is it just him, or is Seifer becoming different lately? Which led him to the subject of the math test. He was almost certain that it was Seifer who woke him up from his sleep. I couldn't have been anyone else, right? Afterall, only Seifer's desk was beside his. His desk was the window seat, so was Seifer only pretending that it had never happened? Hayner suddenly thought of his dream, and how it revealed a room that he, for some reason, must visit. Although he deeply cursed that dream for disrupting his study night and his test, he knew, inevitably, that he had to go to that room.

'Okay then….I'll go tonight…to see if it really exists.' Hayner thought to himself, and looked towards the large clock on his destination.

"Hayner? Hello, earth to Hayner" Pence's voice rang, as the ginger-skinned boy snapped out of his momentary trance and gave a tiny smile to his group.

"We're going to the mall now, are you sure you don't want to come?" Olette asked him, swaying shyly , he toes pointing at the ground. But Hayner paid no mind to it.

"Uh…yeah. Sorry I can't make it….gotta start cramming or my mom's really gonna throw me out," he answered with an airy laugh, as Roxas, Pence, and Olette nodded. They exchanged goodbyes, and Hayner waved until he could no longer see them as they walked down the street.

'What I wouldn't give to hang out with them….' Hayner thought to himself with a small tinge of sadness, as he walked back to his house to prepare for his journey in the night…

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TBB: Hey guys, I just wanna apologize for this long chapter x-x;; hope I haven't bored ya'll to death It's just that I like a slow story development, because it just makes the intimate moments all the more juicy and worthwhile (in my opinion . ) I'd also like to apologize for not explaining my story concept in the previous chapter. I got so caught up in writing/listening to music that I just wanted to debut my story asap xD.

A not, when Seifer said "For Hyne's sake", Hyne is kind of like the "God" or "Christ" in FFVIII, the game where Seifer originated from. I have to say, while writing this story, this couple has really grown on me. And fear not, I promise that in the next chapter, ya'll will see some Seifer x Hayner action ;)

Oh, and Cantabile means "like singing". It's music terminology. Ironically, I have never played the piano and I'm writing a fic about yaoi and chopin O-o. But I am a musician; I play the violin :

Please R&R! Till next chapter!! mwah


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